Heart's Desire
by Tiny Octopus
Summary: Neku reaches out to a girl he sees in Shibuya, but her problem is not what he expected. Part of the Touhou Project crossover series. Also on A03 as "No Boundaries."


Neku sees her beneath the Hachiko statue with her headphones on, a scowl he knows all too well on her face. She blows a bubble in neon-pink gum, cleans the dirt from her nails that will only come back in five minutes, and ignores the people around her, some waiting, some just passing by. Most people Neku leaves alone, lets them discover Shibuya and the world on their own time, but she looks just like he did. He thinks she'll understand.

He taps on her shoulder and she turns to him, headphones still on. "You should take those off," he says with a frown, about to make hand motions when she returns with a scowl and says,

"I can hear you just fine.

* * *

Miko says she can hear too well. Without her headphones, she hears not only voices, but desires. In fact, she can hear ten at a time, each loud and definite and demanding all of her attention. Mr. Hanekoma is automatically interested, and Miko is just surprised that someone believes her. "But aren't you ever curious about the desires of your peers?" he asks, playing devil's advocate.

"No," Miko says flatly, "Not when I'm not able to figure out my own desire."

"Don't you want more than one thing?" Neku asks, and Miko shakes her head.

"It's not like that. You can want everything in the world, but still only have one true desire."

"Exactly," Mr. Hanekoma says with a nod. Neku is upset to be left out and resolves to find out what she means.

* * *

"What does desire sound like?" Neku asks her one evening, the day drawing to a close over Shibuya with a curtain of orange and blue. Miko carefully considers her answer as though she's never been asked that before.

"It can sound like anything," she says, eyes darting from person to person as they walk by. Neku wonders if she can hear what they're not saying. "If it's really strong, like something they want with their whole heart, then it can be loud, like a jet engine. But if it's a secret, then it could be just a whisper. It can sound like wind chimes, or bird calls, or nails on a chalkboard. Every desire sounds different."

"And it's just like that all the time, huh? No way to turn it off?"

She taps on her headphones. "That's why I have these."

Neku sits on the other side of Hachiko. "Why did you come to Shibuya?" he decides to ask, and this is the question that surprises her and gets her to finally look at him. Her eyes are gray, but they sparkle gold in the setting sun. "I mean, there are people everywhere with all kinds of desires, so it's gotta be pretty loud. Why come at all?"

For the first time, Miko gives a shrug that is not at all apathy but entirely anxious shyness and kicks her feet. "I kind of hoped," she murmurs, "That if I heard enough desires, I'd figure mine out eventually."

Before, Neku would have told her, "good luck," and went on his way, but he's different now, and looking at Miko makes him think of himself and everything he left behind in the Reaper's Game; the forced indifference, the bitterness, the need to push everyone away yet the hope that someone would come closer. He puts his hand over hers on the cement fence surrounding Hachiko and meets her eyes. "Maybe I can help."

Miko doesn't know him from a hole in the wall, and he knows that, but when Neku gets up and turns to look at her, she follows him.

* * *

Neku shows her Shibuya.

They run through the streets, gaze into store windows, eat foreign foods and end up breathless back at the Hachiko statue. Miko lets go of everything like he knew she would, and as she pants slings an arm over Hachiko to catch her breath, she's smiling. Neku gets a good look at her now, the girl who was hiding inside of her shell, and his heart beats a little faster. "I figured it out," she says, "I know what my desire is."

"What?"

She looks around and gestures towards the dark, but no less crowded, streets around them, lit by the giant screens and neon lights high above them. "This," she says, "I want all of this. My desire is everything Shibuya has to offer." She gives a shy smile. "And I desire you, too. I want you to be here."

The statement is ambiguous, but Miko is blushing and hiding behind her hair, and Neku feels himself blushing, too. "I'll be here," he promises.

* * *

He keeps his promise. Every day that Miko comes, he greets her at the meeting place. It doesn't take long for him to begin seeing things that he hadn't seen before. Miko's skirt sways over her legs and he drags his eyes up to the back of her head. She doesn't even notice. At first he was sure it was just a momentary want, but now he realizes that he needs her more than he needs to breathe, and he understands the truth of her words and the weight of her gift. They stop at the Underpass to get out of the sun and she admires the graffiti.

"Miko," Neku says, and he's certain she notices that his voice is an octave lower than normal, "There's no one else around. You should take off your headphones."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to hear my desire."

She does so with excitement and anxiety. The moment her pale ears are uncovered, she hears lust like velvet purring in her ears. She hears whispers of what Neku wants to do to her and the caress of hands on her skin. She hears their limbs tangled together. She hears passion, power, and something that might be love all together at once, and she slips her headphones back on just as the blush reaches her ears. Neku grins at her. "So?"

"I heard you," she says shyly. Neku starts to walk again, and he doesn't have to turn to see that she's following.


End file.
